


Meet The Parents

by PetLeopard56



Category: The Young Pope (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 01:55:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11453550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetLeopard56/pseuds/PetLeopard56
Summary: Lenny's parents show up, but first must deal with the immovable object that is Sister Mary.





	Meet The Parents

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after the events of "Two Voices" and "The Cardinal Principle".

Meet The Parents  
A Young Pope Adaptation  
By Pet Leopard  
Rating: PG-13

Sister Mary exited the Vatican Hospital, thoroughly drained. She walked to the kitchen in the little house and then poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat down and sighed. 

Some people who passed by nodded respectfully to her, but she hardly noticed. Nor did she seem to notice the man and woman who stopped by her table on either side of her. They didn’t say anything, but waited for her to notice them.

The man was in his mid sixties with gray hair. He was sporting a pony tail. He wore a short sleeved dress shirt and was wearing blue jeans and sandals. He was thin and wore round rimmed glasses. 

The woman perched on the other side of the nun was slightly younger than the man. She was wearing a loose-fitting dress, with a tie dyed design. Her hair was long and gray. She wore a pair of backless shoes. 

Sister Mary noticed them for a moment, but did not say anything. Finally, she looked glumly from side to side. Her voice was distant and cold. “What are you doing here?”

The man spoke first. “We heard about Lenny. We were just on our way to our hotel actually, when the report came over the news.”

The woman finished his thought. “We were shocked, really. He was doing so well up there. He had that glowing spirit. And the crowd loved him.”

Sister Mary took a swallow of her coffee. “So, does that explain why you left so abruptly, Jacqueline?”

The woman named Jacqueline did not answer her directly. “Sister Mary, may we sit down and talk to you? All this traveling has caused us a great deal of stress.”

She looked up at her directly. “Suffering is good for the soul. Those who cause it, deserve to experience it, tenfold at that! Now, please excuse me. I need to be alone.”

The man by her side paused before speaking. “Sister, you have every right to hate us. But you can’t possibly imagine…Heck, my wife and I were probably the two most messed up people on the planet. But we’ve changed. You wouldn’t understand, Mary. You’re right, there’s no reason why you should want to waste your time with us. We won’t trouble you ever again. Let’s go, Jackie.”

But Jacqueline stayed where she was and didn’t say a word. She let her tears do the speaking for her. Slowly, she turned to follow her husband.

Sister Mary signed and turned toward them. “Oh, for mercy’s sake; Peter, Jackie, come back here. Both of you--sit yourselves down!”

The couple half smiled, slowly and walked back to the table. They sat down on either side of Sister Mary. There was a moment of silence as they respectfully waited for the nun to speak first.

“So, you two finally took the trouble to get married, hence the reference to wife. Or is that still common law, may I ask?”

Peter nodded. “Yes, Sister, we were officially married, about a year ago, the day that Lenny was ordained as pope. That was our gift to him.”

Sister Mary shook her head. “I fail to follow your logic, Peter. It’s more ironic actually, if you ask me, coming from two people who brought him into the world who abandoned him to a nun’s care.”

Jacqueline took Peter’s hand and looked at her pleadingly. “We also stopped doing drugs. We’ve been clean for over 10 years now.”

Sister Mary laughed sarcastically. “So that excuses you from walking out on him, during his big speech this afternoon?”

Peter looked at Jacqueline, who ran her fingers through her hair nervously. Peter continued on her behalf. “We did leave, but to return later.”

Sister Mary laughed. “Later--wow, Peter, your dimensions of time differ from those of the rest of the world. You’ll forgive my bluntness. But does later mean 47 minutes or 47 years on your time clock?”

Jacqueline’s face reddened. “Sister Mary, you have no idea how we cleaned up our lives, through the past forty years. Peter has his own business now and I work as a social worker for the underprivileged. Don’t you see, Mary? It took us forty years to build our lives up so that we could have something to offer him. Just think about it, Sister. What could two stoned-out junkies from the late 60’s have had to offer a child, anyway? We had nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Mary took another sip of her coffee. “Our religion teaches us that you start with nothing to build up to something. I offered to work with you forty years ago. You could have had him in your lives, even back then. I had the resources to set you up in rehab and help get you get some benefits, while you established a living for yourselves. Things could have been different, Jacqueline, but you choose to just walk away.”

Peter shook his head in a gesture of frustration. “Again, what did we have to offer him back then?”

Mary glared at them. “Both of you look in the mirror and you would have your answer. Often times, I had to comfort Lenny as he lay awake at night, or was suffering from a bad dream. He would sometimes look up and stare for hours into the full length hallway mirror in the room. He often asked if Mommy and Daddy were on the other side, smiling at him, just waiting for him to come across to be with them.”

Peter and Jacqueline sat in silence, holding hands. At last, Jacqueline spoke. “We did not mean to hurt him. We often felt that if we had stayed with him, he would have grown to hate us. We couldn’t give him anything that you and the church had given to him.”

Mary shook her head. “And with all that we could give him, we couldn’t give him the one thing that he wanted the most, and that was you.”

Jacqueline spoke slowly. “When we left during his speech, we were not leaving the Vatican area. Peter reminded me that he left a photo album with Lenny’s baby pictures and birth certificate at the hotel. We were going to request an audience with His Holiness so that we could present those items to him to prove that we were actually his real birth parents. Mary, we were going to return by nightfall, after the crowds had calmed down. We were on our way back here, actually, when we heard the tragic news. How is he?”

Mary took another sip of coffee. “An American doctor who just happened to be here on vacation was on hand to care for him. If that saintly physician not been at the right place at the right time, I would hate to think…it’s just too horrible to think about. But to answer your question, he is in stable condition now. He suffered a mild stroke, but the doctor assured me that he would probably be able to resume at least most of his duties, within a reasonable amount of time.”

Jacqueline and Peter uttered a sign of relief. They looked at each other. Peter nodded and Jacqueline spoke. “Is there any chance that we could see him, Sister? Just for a little while?”

Mary paused before speaking. “And what exactly do you mean by ‘a little while?’ If you’re just going to leave him again, then don’t waste your time. It’s like you were never here anyway, as far as we’re concerned.”

Peter looked at her seriously. “But we are here, Mary. And we will be here for as long as our son needs us to be with him.”

Mary looked at them both, seriously. “If you break his heart again, you will have me to answer to, I warn you!”

Jacqueline said to her gravely, “Mother to mother, I would expect nothing less.”

For a moment, Mary said nothing, although she knew that Jacqueline and Peter expected her to speak. Mary stared at the bottom of her empty coffee cup for a long time. At last, she spoke in a casual tone of voice. “I suppose that Cardinal Gutierrez is getting tired by this time. I do need to relieve him. Feel free to tag along, if you wish.”

Jacqueline and Peter hugged her with warmth. “Thank you,” was all that Jacqueline could whisper. 

Mary smiled for the first time in days. “Besides, I need to ask His Holiness about the penalties exacted for nun hugging. If so, well, you’re on your own there. Now let’s get out of here, before I change my mind.”

Sister Mary led the way and the other two visitors followed. It had seemed like the sun had brightened just a little bit as they walked through the garden leading to the hospital building.


End file.
